Kim Steven Elton (born April 9, 1948) is a journalist, commercial fisherman, government official and Democratic politician in the U.S. state of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. Elton represented

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the s ...

in the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...

for two terms, from 1995 to 1999. In 1998, he was elected to the Alaska Senate, serving until his resignation in early 2009 to accept appointment as director of Alaska Affairs at the

U.S. Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the man ...

by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

.CNN.com: Palin foe gets administration job
/ref> Prior to holding elected office, Elton was executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and a salmon troller engaged in

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

Early life

Kim Steven Elton was born in

Havre, Montana Havre ( ) is the county seat and largest city in Hill County, Montana, United States. Havre is nicknamed the crown jewel of the Hi-Line. It is said to be named after the city of Le Havre in France. As of the 2020 census the population was 9,362 ...

on April 9, 1948. He moved to Alaska with his family in 1961 and graduated from

Juneau-Douglas High School Juneau-Douglas Yadaa.at Kalé High School (abbreviated JDHS or JDYKHS) is one of three high schools in Juneau, Alaska. It is one of two primary high schools for the Juneau School District, the other being Thunder Mountain High School. While Jun ...

in 1966. He attended St. Olaf College from 1966 to 1968. After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1969 to 1971 in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

and receiving an honorable discharge, Elton returned to college at the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for c ...

from 1972 to 1974.

Professional life

Elton began his career as a journalist. He was the editor of the ''

Juneau Empire The ''Juneau Empire'' is a newspaper in Juneau, Alaska, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in ...

'' from 1976 to 1978. He also worked for the ''

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner The '' Fairbanks Daily News-Miner'' is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the farthest north ...

'' and was engaged in

. Elton served in a number of staff positions in state government: he was a staff assistant to the

Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

Committee, an assistant state ombudsman, director of policy for Lieutenant Governor Terry Miller, and as executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Political career

Elton entered electoral politics when he ran for and won a seat on the

Assembly of the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska The Assembly of the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska is the governing body and legislative branch of the City and Borough of Juneau, the local government of Juneau, Alaska, United States. As Juneau is a unified municipality, its corporate limits ...

in 1990. He championed a charter amendment approved by voters in 1991 establishing term limits for Assembly members. He left the Assembly in 1994 to run for an open seat in the

, which incumbent

Fran Ulmer Frances Ann "Fran" Ulmer (born February 1, 1947) is an American administrator and Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Alaska. She served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Alaska from 1994 to 2002 under Governor Tony Knowles, becomi ...

had given up to successfully run for lieutenant governor. From 1995 to 1999, Elton represented the 3rd District, which encompasses the portion of Juneau on the mainland from

Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...

Juneau International Airport Juneau International Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport and seaplane base located seven nautical miles (8 mi, 13 km) northwest of the central business district of Juneau, a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska th ...

, in addition to Douglas Island. During his second term in the House, Elton moved from downtown Juneau to Point Louisa, at mile 15 of the Glacier Highway, located in the

Mendenhall Valley The Mendenhall Valley (historically Mendenhall, colloquially The Valley) is the drainage area of the Mendenhall River in the U.S. state of Alaska. The valley contains a series of neighborhoods, comprising the largest populated place within the ...

-centered 4th District represented by Republican Bill Hudson. Due to a long-standing quirk of Alaska law, Elton was able to complete his term without having to resign, but was unable to run for reelection to his seat. Elton contemplated running for the Assembly again until Jim Duncan, who served six terms in the House followed by three terms in the Senate, retired from the Legislature to challenge Alaska's at-large member of the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, Don Young. Elton instead filed to replace Duncan in the Senate. In 1998, he was elected to the Senate, defeating Don Abel, Jr., the owner of a Juneau hardware business established by his father, who served for fourteen years as a regent of the University of Alaska. In 2002, Elton won reelection against

Cathy Muñoz Catherine Norah "Cathy" Muñoz (née Engstrom; born June 23, 1964) is an American politician who was a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives, who from 2009 to 2017 represented the 34th District. She served as Co-Chair of the ...

. Muñoz, whose family came to Juneau from Wrangell in 1928, became the fourth generation in her family to hold elected office in Southeast Alaska when she was appointed to replace Dennis Egan (who was appointed Juneau's mayor) on the Juneau Assembly in 1995. Muñoz would herself later move from downtown Juneau to out on the Glacier Highway, and was elected to the House from the 4th District in 2008. In 2006, Elton again won reelection against Herman "Mac" Meiners, Jr. by an approximately two-to-one margin, similar to what he had won his two House elections by.

Electoral history

References

External links

Alaska State Legislature - Senator Kim Elton
official AK Senate website
Project Vote Smart - Representative Kim S. Elton (AK)
profile * ''Follow the Money'' - Kim Elton *
200620042002199819961994
campaign contributions
Kim Elton
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Elton, Kim 1948 births Living people Democratic Party Alaska state senators American fishers Borough assembly members in Alaska Editors of Alaska newspapers Democratic Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives Military personnel from Alaska Military personnel from Montana People from Havre, Montana Politicians from Juneau, Alaska St. Olaf College alumni University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni Journalists from Montana 21st-century American politicians United States Army soldiers